The invention relates to a winding apparatus for elongated, strand type material such as wires, ropes, strings, or the like, in which the elongated material is wound up on a bobbin, reel, or drum by means of a flyer. In the following text the elongated material may simply be referred to as "wire", however, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the winding of wire onto a bobbin, reel, or drum, forming winding carrier means.
Such winding apparatus is used, for example, in combination with a wire drawing machine. If the bobbin, reel, or drum has been filled up, it is necessary to exchange it for an empty one. It is, however, undesirable to interrupt the continuous operation of the wire drawing machine for the purpose of exchanging the bobbin, reel, or drum in the winding apparatus. Thus, it is known in connection with winding devices operating with a rotatable drum to transfer the wire during the operation of the machine, from the filled up reel onto a prepared empty reel. However, this type of operation is not possible in a machine comprising a so-called "flyer" also known as a speed frame, because the flyer which revolves around the reel interferes with the transferring of the wire from the filled to the empty reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,265 (Hedlund et al) discloses a magazine for storing elongated material by means of two sets of pulleys forming a block and tackle arrangement. One set of pulleys is stationary. The other set of the pulleys is movable up and down along a support column. For this purpose a motor and gear moves the movable pulley set up or down through a cable pull. The control of the cable pull motor is not disclosed by Hedlund et al.
Canadian Patent No. 538,927 (Hollingsworth et al) discloses a cable magazine similar to that disclosed by Hedlund et al. Hollingsworth et al also employ sets of pulleys. Additionally, the Canadian Patent discloses a wire tension sensing roller 23 on a bellcrank 24 which controls either mechanically through a linkage system or electrically through a variable resistor the drive means for the so-called haul-off wheel 14 to maintain a desired wire tension in the pulley system. This type of prior art control as shown in said Canadian Patent No. 538,927 responds to the wire tension directly downstream, as viewed in the wire feed advance direction, of the so-called haul-off wheel 14 and provides a "backward" control of the haul-off wheel.
It is also known from British Patent No. 890,952 to use a block and tackle system for storing elongated material in which one set of pulleys is apparently movable down under its own weight and up under the tension of the material being wound onto a drum. No controls are disclosed in this British Patent No. 890,952.
My own U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,641 discloses a wire winding apparatus in which the wire is wound onto a drum by means of a so-called flyer which may be arranged to have a horizontal or a vertical axis of rotation. In my previous patent the wire tension is controlled in two ways. A weight counterbalancing a tension sensing roller provides one control. The counterbalancing weight is secured to one end of a lever and the sensing roller is secured to the other end of the lever which is journalled intermediate its ends. The lever also operates a rheostat for adjusting the speed of the flyer drive motor, whereby a second wire tensioning control is provided. This type of winding machine does not provide any storage means acting as a buffer between the wire drawing machine and the wire winding machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,155 (Naegeli) discloses a winding system in which the storage facility is itself a winding drum with a flyer and storage drum arranged upstream of the actual winding drum. This operation requires winding the wire twice which in turn calls for two winding mechanisms with the respective drive means. The wire tensioning is accomplished by varying the speed of the winding motor. In another embodiment Naegeli uses a so-called "dancer" arrangement as a storage with a limited capacity.
Naegeli does not teach how the storage capacity could be increased while simultaneously avoiding the use of a full winding drum with its own flyer as a storage facility.